Neighbourhoods
Five neighbourhoods, one very good food city.
Downtown to Scarborough, chosen to span the region rather than cluster in the middle of it. Character, housing stock, transit, who each one suits — and what to eat first.
Chinatown
Dundas and Spadina at full volume — produce crates on the sidewalk, thirty kinds of noodle within one block, and the shortest walk to everything downtown.
A bowl of hand-pulled noodles at 11pm, eaten standing up
Read the guide →The Danforth
Greektown and everything east of it — patio season on Pape, solid brick semis behind, and four subway stations serving a genuinely walkable main street.
Grilled octopus on a patio in August, then a walk to Withrow Park
Read the guide →Little India
Gerrard Street East in full colour — sari shops, sweet counters, charcoal smoke on the sidewalk, and some of the best-value houses this close to downtown.
Chaat from a counter, then kulfi eaten walking east along Gerrard
Read the guide →Agincourt
Scarborough's food capital — the plazas where the region's best Chinese cooking actually is, on lots you could not afford within sight of downtown.
Dim sum at a plaza restaurant with a two-hour weekend wait, and worth it
Read the guide →Little Portugal
Dundas West between Ossington and Lansdowne — charcoal chicken and custard tarts underneath one of the best restaurant and bar strips in the country.
A pastel de nata standing at the counter, then charcoal chicken to take home
Read the guide →Torn between two of them?
That is the most common question I get, and my favourite one to answer.